- Facebook just admitted to listening in on your conversations
- It’s time to leave
- Enough is enough
- The social media giant has compromised too many users’ privacy
Facebook is part of another data breach, the company recently admitted to listening in on the voice calls of its users on Messenger.
Facebook has messed up yet again.
In the latest among a string of high-profile data breaches and controversies, the company recently admitted to listening in on the voice calls of its users on Messenger.
As reported by Bloomberg, hundreds of paid contractors were ordered by Facebook to record and transcribe private calls for the purpose of developing the network’s artificial intelligence capabilities.
Though Facebook said that the breach of privacy only affected users who gave their permission to be listened to, there is no such stipulation in the terms and conditions people agree to when they use the app.
The massive social media site has had an embarrassing history of disrespecting its users’ privacy.
Last year, it was embroiled in a public scandal after news broke that the profiles of up to 87 million people were collected by Cambridge Analytica, a company that uses personal information to sway public opinion ahead of big political campaigns.
Of the 87 million, 1.1 million accounts were from the Philippines.
This case was settled in 2019, when Facebook paid a $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission.
This is peanuts to the company—they made $22 billion in profit just last year.
Getting away with a mere slap on the wrist clearly didn’t teach Facebook any lessons.
In fact, this recent scandal suggests that Facebook simply doesn’t value its users’ privacy at all.
There was also the issue of Russia tampering with the 2016 US election.
Moscow reportedly used the Facebook accounts of countless Americans to formulate ads that bolstered its preferred candidate, Donald Trump, to the presidency.
With the private data of millions exploited for the sake of political gain, the entire debacle seems like a dystopic puppet show.
So, what do we do now that Facebook has once again proved it isn’t changing any time soon? Your data is too precious, and you can’t trust a site with such a heinous track record any longer.
The first step is to seriously prioritize privacy and data security in all your apps, especially in the ones you use to communicate and connect.
Luckily, there are alternatives to Facebook that don’t compromise your data.
Messaging apps let you chat, call, and share things outside a typical social media framework.
A good messaging app should have end-to-end encryption, meaning that anything you send can only be seen by you and the people you’re talking to.
On Viber, for example, it’s virtually impossible for any third party to listen in on your calls or read your messages.
Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t—your data on Viber is, by design, restricted to your eyes only.
With the info you put online becoming less secure by the day, you can’t take any chances. The sooner you draw the line, the less regrets you’ll have in the future.
